The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.

The sentence treats reading not as passive absorption but as dialogue: a good book preserves an author’s reasoning so that later readers can question, follow, and test it as if in discussion. “Good books” are thus time-bridges, allowing intellectual companionship across centuries and making the history of thought available to anyone with patience and attention. The metaphor also implies selectivity—only certain works repay this kind of engagement—and suggests that reading is a discipline of listening to strong arguments rather than merely collecting information. In a Cartesian spirit, it frames learning as active judgment exercised in the presence of exemplary minds.